


Kadavo

by schneefink



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Slavery, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 19:49:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4317555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schneefink/pseuds/schneefink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rex isn't sure if it's been seven weeks or eight since they arrived on Kadavo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kadavo

**Author's Note:**

> AU from 4x13 "Escape from Kadavo": the queen of Zygerria dies before she can tell Anakin where Obi-Wan is. Dooku has further plans for Obi-Wan and doesn't order the Keeper to kill him.  
> Thanks to norcumi for beta.

They never see sunlight. The guards vary the length of the shifts to keep the slaves disoriented, and it works: Rex isn't sure if it's been seven weeks or eight since they arrived on Kadavo. He's not sure if he's feeling light-headed because of sleep deprivation, not enough food or water, or because of the air pollution. The Togrutans, who have been here longer, suffer even worse. The old ones are dying, and the guards just throw them out with the garbage.

It's a terribly inefficient way to run a mine, Rex catches himself thinking in a cynical moment. He's no business man, but he's sure that with a couple of his brothers and a few droids he could make this place very profitable in short order. They'd have to dig some additional air vents, but that wouldn't be a problem.

Of course profit is not the purpose of this mine, at least not profit from the ore. Occasionally the Keeper picks out the slaves he deems to be sufficiently broken and they are taken away to be sold. But even in this aspect the mine is inefficient: far too many slaves die before they can be sold, or they get too sick to fetch a high price. If he had to break in slaves he'd make them work as farmers, on a planet with unusual solar radiation and with a ton of annoying bugs. Anyone caught eating anything on the farm without permission would be forced to punish another slave. The water would be drugged just a bit to make the slaves doubt their own minds and to make them easily susceptible to commands.

Rex doesn't know where these thoughts come from. He lies on his bunk in the dark and stares at the ceiling.

He should sleep. It's stupid not to sleep, he knows that. It serves no purpose, and he needs to keep his strength up for when they are rescued. 

General Kenobi could probably make him sleep. Rex has seen the general do far more impressive things using the Force. But it would be selfish to approach the general for help with minor problems. Not to mention unwise: the guards watch them closely, and each attempt at talking with each other is punished harshly. Even sign language isn't safe, and so all they have to communicate are looks and occasionally gestures. Once the general tried to send him reassuring thoughts, but he looked too exhausted for that to be convincing.

The general is doing far too much as it is. He doesn't have his lightsaber, but he still has the Force, and Rex sees him help their fellow slaves as much as he can. The guards don't notice when the rocks a sick slave carries suddenly move almost on their own, and sometimes the guards don't seem to notice sick or weak slaves at all. The general always looks even paler on those days, and sometimes he's shaking. Rex wants to tell him to take it easy, to preserve his strength, that the general's life is more important than an old Togrutan surviving for one more day before dying anyway. He knows the general wouldn't listen. 

Sometimes Rex manages to give the general some of his food rations. The first time the general tried to refuse, but Rex was more stubborn. He has to take care of the general. It's his duty, and besides General Skywalker and Cody would skin him alive if he didn't. Even though they can barely communicate, having the general next to him helps Rex stay strong. He doesn't want to think about how he would fare if he was in this mine alone.

A green Togrutan in a bunk near Rex is tossing and turning in his sleep. Sometimes a slave has nightmares, but most of them are too tired. They're forbidden to leave their bunks at night, so the few times it does happen they're all forced to listen to the moans and cries and sobs. A young blue Togrutan tried to comfort another one night and they were both whipped.

Rex wishes he knew their names. None of the Togrutans dare to talk, so he can only think of them by their age and appearance. Rex remembers how much getting a name meant to him, and more recently how much it hurt to have it disregarded and ignored and to be reduced to a mere number by General Krell. At least the Togrutans look different, but that's no great comfort. One guy Rex had worked with for a few days caught a whip to the face one day and was almost unrecognizable after that. He was killed shortly afterwards because he'd lost his value.

Rex and the general aren't whipped. They were beaten once or twice, but only in passing, as an afterthought. Instead they are forced to watch other slaves being beaten or killed, and the guards know that's much more effective. Sometimes they are forced to beg for the guards' amusement. Sometimes the guards use the shock collars and laugh about how it makes them convulse.

It's perverse, but sometimes Rex almost wishes they'd whip him too. He feels guilty to be almost unharmed when everyone around him is suffering more.

It's been seven or eight weeks, and Rex is starting to doubt if he'd be much help in a rescue attempt anymore. The first few days, the first few weeks he thought a rescue would be coming any day. Since then he wonders and worries. General Skywalker and Commander Tano must have gotten away from Zygerria: even if they didn't manage it on their own, which would surprise Rex, the Jedi council knows where they were and would certainly have sent a team after them by now. They must not know where General Kenobi is being held. The Zygerrians probably have dozens of facilities like this one. Knowing his general, Skywalker would destroy each and every one of them until he finds his Master. Rex is looking forward to it.

General Skywalker will be angry when he finally finds them. Rex knows Jedi aren't supposed to be angry, but he doesn't understand how that's supposed to work. It's war, how could he not feel anger towards the enemy who kills his brothers? He's worked with the Jedi for years now and he doesn't think he'll ever understand them. He thought he'd discovered that they could be even darker than he'd feared, but General Krell turned out to be a Sith. General Kenobi cursed creatively when they reported to him what had happened on Umbara, and General Skywalker apologized personally that he hadn't noticed anything. It wasn't General Skywalker's fault, but Rex is slightly worried that the Jedi didn't notice one of their own had Fallen. In the days after Umbara he read through General Krell's mission reports and calculated how many brothers had died on his orders. Then he and Fives spent several hours at target practice to get the number out of their heads.

Now he's thinking about Umbara again. As if he needs anything to make his current situation even worse than it already is. At least he's not killing his own brothers this time. His brothers and his unit are safe with General Skywalker right now, or as safe as they ever are.

Rex should have called them when he escaped from the slave pits on Zygerria the first time instead of coming back for the auction immediately. He should have insisted that they bring backup with them, at least one ship in orbit around Zygerria, so there was help available when things went wrong. 

Something almost always went wrong, and this time Rex had almost expected General Skywalker to screw up. The general was many things, but not an expert on undercover work, and Rex very much doubted that Commander Tano could play a slave convincingly. Instead it was General Kenobi's impatience and bad luck that led to General Kenobi being captured. At least there were fewer casualties than the last time someone planned to execute General Kenobi and General Skywalker in an arena.

Someone had secured the security tapes from Geonosis and the footage had somehow made its way into the training materials on Kamino. It was a good example that showed that Jedi got into trouble, they were resourceful and very good fighters, but also crazy and not invulnerable. 

It was tempting to forget that last bit sometimes when Generals Skywalker and Kenobi survived seemingly impossible odds yet again. But Rex never wanted a reminder like this. Some days General Kenobi seems okay, caught but not beaten. Some nights Rex sees him sitting in his bunk meditating, an almost peaceful look on his face. But sometimes Rex thinks he sees an expression that's almost despair on the general's face, and it scares him.

How many facilities like this one could the Zygerrians have? It depends on when they started working together with the Seps and how many resources they got, but hopefully not too many. It's been almost two months, General Skywalker should be here soon. Maybe after this someone could finally convince General Kenobi to take a vacation, Cody had half-joked that he could use one months ago. Master Yoda would probably have to make it an order, or call it medical leave.

Maybe they'll order Rex to take some time off too. He's not sure how he feels about that; even after Umbara they went back to work after only a few days' rest. It'll probably be the same this time. He'll be okay once he's finally out of this damn place and the Keeper is dead. Rex hopes he'll be the one to kill the Keeper, or at least many of the guards. As the psych guys would say, it would be a therapeutic experience.

The lights go on without warning. Rex blinks quickly and sits up. Another night without sleep. He estimates they got four hours this time. If they're lucky they'll get something to eat, and if they're very lucky it won't be the slimy brown paste from yesterday. 

A brief touch on his shoulder makes Rex look up to see General Kenobi, who's looking at him out of the corner of his eyes with his head turned towards the guards watching the room. The general looks better today, Rex thinks. Maybe at least he slept well. General Skywalker once told Commander Tano that sleeping in unpleasant conditions is part of Jedi training, though Rex isn't sure if he was joking. Or maybe the general has a good feeling. Rex has learned better than to dismiss a Jedi's feelings. 

Maybe the general's good mood means they're getting rescued today. Maybe it means none of the slaves will die today. Maybe it means nothing, but Rex will take it. They'll get out of here soon.


End file.
